Oh Happy Day

Erin and Dave arrived today in Christchurch!! We met them at the tui campervan park, where Erin presented Bryce with the camera he ordered and had sent to her (cameras are MUCH cheaper in the US than in NZ). What a happy Bryce.

We all piled into the campervan that would be all of our home for the next week (two weeks for Dave and Erin).
We did a clock-wise tour of the South Island, starting with Lake Tekapo.

Earth and Sky tours picked us up at our holiday park to take us to Mount John, the location of several huge telescopes. It was an amazing tour. The town of Tekapo is legally required to use lights that only shine downward so as to make the night sky even more clear. We saw small clouds that were really galaxies (NOT the Milky Way), found where several constellations including the Southern Cross were, and looked through powerful telescopes to see nebulae, the moon and Mars. Here's a picture (that Bryce took using a special revolving tripod available on Mt John) of the Southern Cross (the 4 brightest stars to the left that form a box...or form the end points of a cross). We all loved the night sky tour. We were really happy we got to go as it had been cloudy all day, but managed to clear up by evening. I was so happy that Erin and Dave had such an awesome first day in NZ-- it was definitely one of my favorite days! Best friends, beautiful sights, and telescopes!!